Author: John Lawless

What do you know about banjoist Cynthia Sayer? Bluegrass lovers could easily have missed her sterling career, one that has led many to describe her as the top four string banjo player on the scene today. We have mentioned her name

Backbeat Books has announced a May 21 release for Hold To A Dream - A New Grass Odyssey, the official autobiography of John Cowan, written with Jimmy Schwartz. In addition to a chronicle of John's life and career, the book's narrative

Say hello to a new young bluegrass band from Nashville, Off The Rails, which consists of a number of strong pickers you might recognize. If you were at SPBGMA 2024 you already know about this bunch, who debuted there in

Two new members have come onboard for Backline, the contemporary bluegrass group from South Carolina based around the singing and songwriting of Katelyn Ingardia. Katelyn tells us that they had a couple of players leave over the winter. "Jacob Connor, our mandolinist,

Chandler Beavers - photo © Chelse Warren / OpenHeadTakesPhotos West Virginia mandolinist Chandler Beavers has a new single on offer, the first since his 2023 album, 4:09. Beavers works these days as a member of rockin' jamgrass band Alabaster Boxer, and with

What happens if you take the sort of Hatfield and McCoys dinner theater show from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN and move it to the upper midwest? Well, in the hands of David Fee, former proprietor of The Comedy Barn, Hatfield

Wonderful news today from Fries, VA (pronounced freeze) about the long-running fiddlers' convention held in the town starting in 1965. It had been a major stop for bluegrass and old time players in the mid Atlantic region since that time,

Mountain Home Music has a new single for Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, another from their current six-song EP, Pages In Your Hand. This time out it's one Chris wrote with Thomm Jutz called Henderson Hill, which is under a

Bluegrass vocalist Ben James, a newly-minted member of the Oak Ridge Boys, made his television debut with the world famous quartet last weekend on Huckabee. James, a former member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Dailey & Vincent, had been pursuing

The International Bluegrass Music Association has introduced the graduating class from their 2024 Leadership Bluegrass symposium. Each year, roughly two dozen people are selected in a competitive process to attend a seminar in Nashville, designed to build future leaders within the